A Frisco man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Monday for attempted enticement of a minor.

Matthew Jarmon, 24, pleaded guilty in December and convicted of knowingly persuading, inducing and enticing a minor to engage in sexual acts.

Jarmon admitted that he sent sexually explicit messages to an undercover officer posing online as a boy. In June, he arranged a rendezvous to have sex with the “child” and was arrested at the prearranged meeting spot.

Investigators learned after Jarmon’s arrest that he had engaged in similar activity with three other boys, according to court documents.

Genesis CEO Jan Langbein addresses an audience of 1,600 at the annual Conference on Crimes Against Women on Monday at the Sheraton Hotel. (Photo by Naomi Martin)

Crime is down overall in Dallas, but Police Chief David Brown says one area remains stubbornly high: domestic violence.

It’s the most common type of call the department receives, Brown told an audience Monday at the Conference on Crimes Against Women.

“Violence against women has stayed constant – in many cases, increased,” Brown said. “I believe we can change this scourge of our society, and conferences like this one will help us continue to advance.”

The conference, now in its 10th year, is focused on educating police, prosecutors and victim advocates in the areas of sexual assault, stalking, trafficking and domestic abuse. Organized by Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support and the Dallas Police Department, the event is held at the Sheraton Dallas through Wednesday.

Gov. Greg Abbott, appearing on a video live feed, told the audience of 1,600 the state must continue addressing crimes against women through prevention.

“Women and children are safer and Texas is better because of your efforts but I think we can all agree that there is so much more that we must do,” Abbott said.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said he realized he wanted to make domestic violence a “signature issue” for him because men tend to brush off the issue as a women’s issue, but men represent the bulk of abusers. About one-fourth of women are victims of abuse, which likely means one-fourth of men are abusers, he said.

Rawlings said he makes an effort to speak out to young men to try to combat cultural problems wrought by the “misogynistic gene that’s built in us guys that we haven’t dealt with yet.”

“Half our population is preyed upon by the other half,” Rawlings said. “We are all mad about terrorism all the time and the greatest terrorism takes place right in our backyard, right in our kitchen, right in our bedroom.”

An employee at a Dallas Jack in the Box threatened to jump off of the restaurant’s roof Thursday evening after police arrived to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.

Roman Arellano, 33, was wanted on a warrant charging him with continuous sexual abuse of a child, Dallas police spokeswoman Tramese Andrews said.

Police officers intending to serve the warrant went to the Jack in the Box in the 500 block of East 12th Street about midnight. Arellano fled to the roof when he saw them, police said.

Officers followed him to the roof, where he threatened to jump, police said. They negotiated with Arellano for about 2 1/2 hours before he surrendered without further struggle, police said.

Police Lt. Juan Salas talked with the man to prevent him from jumping, he told KXAS-TV (NBC 5).

“I was telling this person here who was up on the ledge that life has its ups and downs, but there are always solutions to the problems,” Salas said. “I was able to remind him of the important things.”

Lt. Salas persuaded Arellano to come down and not harm himself. He was taken to Lew Sterrett Justice Center, according to police.

A Dallas man who traveled around Texas forcing a woman to have sex for money pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court.

Justin Dishon Brathwaite, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of individuals to engage in prostitution, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Brathwaite, who remains on bond, faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for June 17.

Brathwaite called a 19-year-old woman in May 2012 after seeing her on Backpage.com. They spoke on the phone for about two weeks during which Brathwaite invited her to live with him in Dallas.

She agreed after he promised to take care of her and advised her to stop having sex for money. He then drove to Oklahoma City to pick her up.

Once they got to Dallas, Brathwaite told her she had to immediately begin making money for him “or he would drop her off somewhere and leave her,” federal authorities said.

The woman eventually agreed to work at a strip club and have sex for money. Brathwaite advertised her services on Backpage.com and made her give him all of the money she earned, authorities said. He took her to various cities including Denton, Killeen, Houston and Austin.

The Dallas Police Department’s vice unit found her in a Dallas hotel room in June 2012 and arrested her for prostitution. Their investigation led to Brathwaite, and the case was turned over to The FBI.

Police are searching for a man wanted for questioning in a northeast Dallas sexual assault.

Police on Tuesday released surveillance photos of a man wanted for questioning in a sexual assault in northeast Dallas.

A woman was sexually assaulted around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 5 in the 9000 block of Whitehurst Drive, police said. Police believe the man captured on surveillance images may have information about the attack.

Police believe the man, who has gold teeth, drives a red or maroon 1998 to 2004-model Mercury Grand Marquis with a tan interior. It possibly has a partial license plate of CW or GW.

Authorities ask anyone with information on the man’s location or identity to call Crime Stoppers at 214-373-8477.

A registered sex offender with a criminal past is headed back to state prison to serve two life sentences after he was convicted at trial last week in Collin County on multiple charges.

Joshua Leroy Karr, 33, of Allen was convicted by a jury on one count of sexual assault of a child and one count of online solicitation of a minor. Both are second-degree felonies.

Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Dobiyanski said that because Karr had a prior conviction for possession of child pornography, the sexual assault charge called for an automatic life sentence. The online solicitation charge was also enhanced to a first-degree felony because of Karr’s previous convictions, Dobiyanski said.

Authorities say Karr picked up a 16-year-old girl in the Houston area on Dec. 20, 2013, two days after ending his mandatory supervision from a previous stint in state prison.

The teen told police she and Karr had been communicating online for about a year. Karr used the screen name thugsbunny03. He picked the girl up outside a gas station and brought her back to his Allen home. They had sex multiple times during her two-week stay there, according to court records.

The girl’s parents had reported her as a runaway and hired a private company to analyze her laptop and tablet computers to try to find her. That analysis showed more than 16,000 messages between her and Karr in which they expressed their love for each other, a probable cause affidavit states. The parents notified authorities.

On Jan. 3, 2014, Allen police contacted Karr at his home. He initially denied knowing the girl but then told police she was in his bedroom. Karr was taken into custody, and the girl was returned to her family.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice records show Karr was in prison from March 2005 to February 2010 after being convicted of attempted aggravated kidnapping and possession of child pornography.

Media reports say Karr was arrested in December 2003 after trying to force a middle school student in Sherman into his car. Children in the nearby city of Tom Bean reportedly identified him as the man trying to get them to get in his car days earlier, a news report stated.

State records show Karr was released from prison on mandatory supervision and required to register for life as a sex offender. The sex offender registry had listed him as a moderate risk.

In court last week in Collin County, Karr also pleaded guilty to five counts of possession of child pornography. He received a 20-year prison sentence on those charges. Karr also pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to commit escape while confined at the Collin County jail. He was sentenced to one year in prison.

All of the sentences will be served concurrently. Karr would be eligible for parole after serving 30 years, Dobiyanski said.

A McKinney man was sentenced last week to 52 years in prison without the possibility of parole after sexually abusing a child for several years, according to the Collin County District Attorney’s Office.

Jason Daniel Sewell, 26, was convicted by a Collin County jury on one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child and one count of indecency with a child by contact.

According to prosecutors, Sewell began molesting the girl when she was 8 years old and living in another state. He also sexually abused her and showed her pornography in Arlington. When he moved to McKinney, he continued to molest the girl whenever she visited him, prosecutors said. When the girl turned 15, she confided in her mother, who immediately contacted police.

Sewell was arrested on charges issued out of Tarrant and Collin counties. When investigators conducted a search of his home, they found multiple sexual devices that corroborated the girl’s account of the abuse.

Jurors issued a 52-year sentence for the continuous sex abuse charge and a 10-year sentence for the indecency charge.

Police have arrested a Dallas man accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl.

Matthew Barrett Oshea, 32, was booked Tuesday on three counts of sexual assault of a child.

According to police documents, the child told her school counselor that Oshea forced her to perform a sex act on him. She also accused him of raping her on other occasions and showing her pornography on his cell phone, his arrest warrant affidavit says.

She told authorities that Oshea gave her candy “for doing a good job,” the affidavit says.

Oshea is being held in the Dallas County Jail in lieu of $300,000 bail.

In a Louisiana federal courtroom Tuesday, a 25-year-old Dallas pimp has pleaded guilty to trafficking an underage girl from Dallas to New Orleans.

Taurean Jackson is looking at life in prison and a $250,000 fine for taking a 16-year-old girl from Mesquite, as well as another woman charged as an accomplice, to New Orleans in July 2013 after advertising their services online. According to a December 2013 indictment, Jackson was also charged with obstructing a federal investigation.

That indictment says Jackson set up shop in Dallas in March 2012 when he opened an escort agency called Star City Vixens in a retail strip along Regal Row near Stemmons Freeway. The indictment says Star City Vixens advertised “upscale adult entertainment” and said it would bring “team members” to to the Super Bowl, the NBA All-Star Game and other major sporting events.

In August of that year, says the indictment, Jackson launched an online radio show (more like an online party line, based on one archived episode) called Cheap Hoes Gotta Go under the moniker Marvelous Rich. Says the indictment, “the show consisted of Jackson conducting interviews with pimps and prostitutes, discussing nuances of the pimp/prostitution ‘game,’ and providing a call-in forum to ‘let pimps and hoes speak there [sic] mind.” Continue reading →